


Hazey

by a_little_kiwi



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, LGBTQ Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-06-03 17:38:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19468849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_little_kiwi/pseuds/a_little_kiwi
Summary: Chloe Bourgeois is a people pleaser in her own right. Maybe she spends all of her time making people hate her, but she has a good reason for it. As that's the only thing her mother respects, really-- the exceptional rudeness one can exhibit. Chloe's life goal has always been to make her Mother love her no matter what, and once Marinette Dupain-Cheng solves that problem in only a few minutes- she doesn't really know what to do with herself. So after Miraculer, when her Miraculous is taken away for good, she sets her eyes on a new mission, a new person to please: Ladybug. Ladybug is going to love Chloe with all her heart, and Chloe's going to get her Miraculous back-- and a girlfriend along the way. But that means she's got some personality changing to do...





	1. People Pleaser

There are only five people in Chloe's life that she really, truly, genuinely cares about-- though she would never tell them that.

Number One.

Her Father. After he breaks and gets akumatized because he was so scared of Chloe and Audrey leaving him, she knows she'll never be able to do that to him again. She never tells him, never utters those three damned words-- I love you, but she does tiny- very tiny- things she didn't do before to show him she won't leave. Little sticky notes on the door. Sweeping the floor, making his bed before she gets caught in his room, asking him for less materialistic favors... She doesn't know why she can't just tell him, show him, hug him and say she loves him, but she just... can't. She won't be that vulnerable ever again.

But she smiles more. Genuinely, when he's around.

Number Two.

Sabrina.

She's Chloe's only friend, other than Adrien Agreste. Chloe acts like she's a servant, but that's because that's the only way she's ever seen her Mother show affection. She loves Sabrina, she really does, and she shows it through occasional extremely expensive gifts and consistent Ladybug and Chat Noir LARPing. After Miraculer, she couldn't help but invite her over just a little bit more. Suddenly, she was doing her own homework- and she was doing it in time to have Sabrina over every afternoon. They never spoke about it, and she was just as mean, but she needed to show her appreciation... somehow... 

Number Three.

Adrien Agreste, of course.

She's touchy. She's rude. She's- an idiot, and acts like she has a crush on him- but really, he's the only one who knows she's a big fat lesbian and he's the only person she's just-- always been... okay to. Helping him get into school, watching nerdy shows with him, occasionally going out and trying on outfits they both know their parents would never let them have and cackling as they took ugly selfies together, only for their own eyes. She's touchy in public to give the image she needs, and he lets her, even though she knows he hates it and he knows she knows he does. But she has to, which brings her to Number Four...

Her Mother.

Chloe has always been a little bit of a people pleaser-- but not just any people pleaser. She was only a suckup for the people she really, really, really wanted to please. 

She'd crush her personality and build it anew for these people, and the only one she was focused on for her whole life up to this point was her Mother. She made herself just like her. Flamboyant, straight, angry, mean, and always unimpressed. She was perfect for her. So why- why, why, why? had Marinette Dupain-Cheng of all people managed to impress her Mother in the span of a few minutes when she couldn't after perfecting herself for her whole life?

Chloe had cried so, so much that night- even after Marinette had helped her out of that situation and allowed her mother to see just how exceptional Chloe really was, she cried. She sobbed until her throat hurt and her big blue eyes burned. Because why did it take her worst enemy basically calling her an asshole for her Mother to see her?  
But, she had gotten what she wanted. So she turned to her next idol.

Because she was determined to forget. Determined to just love, love, love her Mother, and act like she didn't struggle to remember Chloe's name up until now. So she locked those feelings up, and focused on her new target:

Number Five.

Ladybug.

She had taken her Bee Miraculous, saying it wasn't safe for her or her family. She had messed with Chloe's perception of her-- but she had idolized her Mother of all people, she could idolize a superhero with anger problems.

So she started to work.

She tore down the walls she built. She tore down the perception of herself that she had set up for her mother. She wrecked her hetero mean-girl persona in just one morning, just for Ladybug. Hoping she'd see. Hoping she was there and she'd see and she'd fall in love with the girl that Chloe was trying to rush to become-- to get Pollen back, to get Ladybug tied around her finger.

Because Chloe Bourgeois? She was a people pleaser-- but only for the best.

And Ladybug was the very, very best.


	2. A Girl to Love

Chloe isn't good at being subtle.

She knows she's not, but she also knows with Ladybug-- subtle might be the best way to go. Every time she used her bee-light to call her, she didn't come. She'd send Chat Noir at most when she was needed. 

Chloe gave her Ladybug costume to Sabrina that day-- the day she took Pollen away for good. The only real thing that she was good at- gone in an instant, because of a mistake she made the day she got it. A part of her- a very small part, but a part all the same- wished she hadn't been so intent on impressing her mother that day. But that was horrible to think of, surely-- as she had her mother back!And all of those good times with Ladybug... wouldn't have happened, if she hadn't found the Miraculous. Giving away her identity in an instant was-- not a mistake. Surely. No. It couldn't have been. 

_I could have kept it longer if I hadn't--_ No. No, Chloe Bourgeois doesn't mess up.

She ties a black, polka-dotted, red band in her hair-- sort of how the black strand comes out and twists her hair as it did when she was Queen Bee. It was subtle. Subtle enough for Ladybug to notice it, if Ladybug was around.

Lila's secret spell had worked- subtly. This is how she knew Ladybug had to be a student. She had been around people her age, she gave Lila-- a person their age-- a secret spell that let her summon her, and she had dropped that textbook out of the sky that one time- yes, yes, Alya found proof that Ladybug was over 5000 years old, but she never truly believed that. Surely, Alya didn't either.

Either way, she went up on her balcony and did Lila's little spell just in case. She wanted Ladybug to see her so, _so_ badly.

\----------------------------------~----------------------------------

Once in class, Chloe couldn’t help but realize there was already tension beginning to brew.

And something Chloe never really failed to notice about her class is how willing they are to push something good to the side for something they think might be more self beneficial.

She knew exactly how easy it was to bribe or scare them into doing nothing for Dupain-Cheng, but this seemed a little too far.

Her friends-- Dupain-Cheng’s, not _hers,_ ew-- were standing around the back desks, leaning hungrily in towards Lila Rossi, who was on a spiel about how she could get in contact with Jagged Stone, how she could get them to a few of his shows, maybe back-stage, maybe…

Her brain wandered off after a moment. Jagged Stone was literally staying at her Daddy’s hotel. There wasn’t much _Rossi_ could do with him that Chloe couldn’t do herself, but--

“Isn’t that right. Marinette?” Lila blinked innocently up at Marinette-- who, surprisingly, was the only other one except for Adrien not buzzing around her--

Chloe didn’t know what Lila said, but what she did know is Marinette looked like she was about to burst.

“Yeah, Marinette!” Kim cheers obliviously, “Between your skills as class rep and Lila’s friendship with Jagged, you could totally get us into the next show, right?”

“I mean, I--”  
  
“Come on, girl!” Says Alya, equally as oblivious to Marinette’s emotional state, “We all know you know Jagged Stone, too! He’d totally do that for you! Lila said you already promised her, why are you changing your mind now?”

Now, Chloe might not know exactly what was going on, but she did know three things, just from this snippet of the conversation.

  1. Lila promised something that Marinette obviously didn’t know about.

  2. Jagged’s next show was in _America._

  3. Marinette knew both of these facts as well.




So, she leaned back and scoffed, tipping her head to the side, “Wouldn’t plane tickets for _the whole class_ be a little hard on Dupain-Cheng? I mean, we all know what type of place _she_ lives in.”

“Plane tickets?” Rose said, bewildered. “Lila said there was a new show here, in Paris, next week! And _Marinette_ agreed to get us in for free! Right, Marinette?”

“Marinette,” Lila gasped. “Did you _lie_ to me? About there being a concert? T-- To make me look bad!” She pouts, covering her face as if she were to cry.

Chloe was going to turn on Dupain-Cheng, she really was. This was a perfect chance to slap her to the ground where she belonged. Now, everyone was about to see she wasn’t perfect-- but then she realizes one important detail the rest of the class doesn’t seem to as they turn to glare at their class president.

_Dupain-Cheng_ had tears welling up in _her_ eyes.

And from Chloe’s angle in the front across the room, she could blatantly see the corners of a smirk on Lila’s face. _No_ tears as she hid her expression.

Chloe’s stomach dropped, but she knew what she had to do. _It was to get Ladybug’s attention, nothing else._

She stands up just as Dupain-Cheng’s tears start to spill.  
  
“ _Rossi_ ’s lying!” She announces loudly, pointing towards the Italian girl in question. “She isn’t even actually crying!”

Chloe doesn’t flinch as all heads swivel towards her, even Dupain-Cheng’s-- and only one person’s eyes aren’t full of anger.

“Why should we believe you?” Says Alya, hotheaded as always, it seems. “You’ve been bullying Marinette since--”  
  
“So why would I help her?” Chloe barks back before Alya can finish. “If I want her broken, why would I lie to protect her? The only plausible explanation is that _I’m_ telling the truth. Besides, who are you going to believe? A practical _stranger,_ or your best friend?”  
  
Alya reels back as if she had been slapped, but has the decency to look ashamed. She turns towards Dupain-Cheng.

“Marinette, did you lie to Lila?” She says, her tone guilty but still scolding. Dupain-Cheng shakes her head no furiously, eyes still full of tears. “I haven’t even talked to Lila since the first day. You _know_ I don’t even li-- you know I wouldn’t do that, Alya.”

“Oh, no!” Lila wails loudly, overtaking the scene in front of Chloe. “Now you’re turning my friends against me? Marinette, how you could you _do this to me?”_ She buries her face back into her hands, and her shoulders shake as if she was crying.

Chloe’s eyes narrow. 

_Still no tears._

"Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. You're trying to turn the class against Dupain-Cheng!"


	3. Drowning in Blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long, and that it's so short. After more episodes came out with Lila in them, I felt bad that this couldn't be canon compliant anymore-- and just had a bad fit of Writer's Block, thinking nobody would read it under all of the new content coming out including the Ladybug episode. It was dumb but it still made me struggle to write this. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

"Why would you--" Rose starts, but Chloe isn't having any of it. She's blinded all of the sudden, by the familiar blue hue that is Mar-- Dupain-Cheng's eyes. That's all she can see. If she squints, she can act like it's Ladybug. Ladybug, staring desperately at her, like she _needs Chloe._

"What? You're really going to throw your friend under the bus like that? For a girl you've known for, like, two weeks? Is what Dupain-Cheng done for you not enough? You need her to go out of her way to get you all into a concert that doesn't exist for free, abusing her friendship with one of the most popular people in Paris, for you to keep thinking that she's a good person? Is that it? Ridiculous." She decides she sort of likes the appalled and doubtful looks thrown her way. ~~But she likes Marinette's grateful and proud bluebells more.~~ Rose draws back like she's been hit, eyes wide and guilty as she looks back and forth between Chloe, Marinette and Lila. 

"Is... Is that how you feel, Marinette?"

Marinette falters as all eyes go straight back to her. She nods, gritting her teeth. "I-- I just... I didn't know about any concert, I swear. And even if I did, I wouldn't want to take advantage of Jagged like that..."  
Chloe scoffs, "Exactly. When has Marinette ever bragged about her accomplishments? Heck, you never hear about them again after they happen. Unlike a certain ly---"  
  
"Hey, we don't know if Lila was lying!" Alya interrupts quickly, barreling on before anyone can interrupt, but you can tell there's doubt in her eyes like everyone else's. "Maybe Marinette forgot. Maybe she talked to someone else and thought it was Marinette--"  
  
"Yes!" Lila's shrill voice cuts through the air unwantedly as she sinks her claws into the easy excuse. "Yes, that must have been it! I'm _so_ sorry Marinette! I-- I forgot it was my other friend, not you! I remember now! I didn't mean-- I didn't mean to make the class turn on you like this! Oh, this is all my fault..."

Chloe knows it could just stop there.

She does.

She knows it's what Marinette would want. What _Ladybug_ would want. But- she had been so nice so far-- surely, it'd be okay to do what _Chloe_ wants for... just a moment. Yes, just one little...

Her phone is out and at her ear in a heartbeat as she stares directly at Lila, "Well, if that's true-- surely there's no harm in talking to Jagged about this _unfortunate_ mixup, yes? Because since you _saved his kitten,_ surely you could _get free tickets for this non-existent concert yourself._ "

Lila pales, and starts to stutter an excuse, but Adrien beats her to it. "Chloe, this is unnecess--"

"Jagged? Hello?" Chloe feels satisfaction well up in her chest as Lila seems to get even paler. "Yes, this is Chloe Bourgeois. I just wanted to ask about your upcoming concert in Paris?"  
  
A pause. You could hear a feather drop in the tense silence that was their classroom, and Chloe could not feel more proud.

"No? You're in America? _Lila Rossi,_ the girl who saved your kitten says differently."  
  
A sadistic grin spreads across her face.

"You don't know who Lila Rossi _is,_ you say?"

The class explodes.


	4. She Crumbles

Somehow, Chloe Bourgeois manages to sneak out of the chaos she created to follow Marinette Dupain-Cheng down the hallway.

Somehow, Chloe Bourgeois manages to admit to herself that yes, indeed, this Lila Akumization is her fault, and she does feel guilty over it.

She reaches out to apologize to Marinette, who is now hiding in a broom closet-- just to freeze as pink light shines from beneath the door and it bursts open, revealing Ladybug there instead.

Somehow, Chloe Bourgeois is not surprised.

"Marinette." Chloe whispers, using her first name for the first time since they were kids, and Marinette freezes.

Then nods.

Chloe can't help but feel sick when she realizes the girl she's been treating so horribly is the girl she claims to be in love with.

She's a ghost for the rest of the akuma attack, dissociated. Not really there.

Is what she did good enough for Marinette? Does it make up for it? Does the fact she got Lila akumatized make her chances worse? Probably.

She couldn't deal with this. She couldn't. How could she try so hard and fail so badly in one day?

Somehow, Chloe Bourgeois doesn't crumble.

"Chloe." Ladybug says as she lands in front of her, eyes steely. They're the same bluebell eyes as Marinette's. She drowned so joyfully in them before, but now she suffocates in their gaze.

"I'm disappointed in you."

She snaps.

"You shouldn't have done what you did."

She breaks.

"You didn't need to call Jagged Stone and drag Lila through the mud like that."

She crumbles, but Ladybug leans down to meet her, smiling softly.

"But thank you- really. You're the last person I thought I could lean on, but the only one who really came through for me. You're amazing, Chloe. I don't know what I could do without you."

Chloe can't breathe.

Because for once, someone's thanking her. Someone appreciates her for her efforts and not someone else's. Someone's appreciating her for her, something she did, even if it wasn't the best action to take.

"I felt so alone, Chloe." Ladybug--Marinette-- Buginette? Continues. "But you let me know I wasn't. You stuck your head out for me. When Alya didn't, when Adrien didn't... When all my friends didn't-- you did. You might not have been reliable in the past, but... I want you to have this."

And suddenly the fox miraculous is slipping into Chloe's hands and she can't breathe and Ladybug is so close and---

"IthinkIloveyou."

Shit.

Ladybug smiles wider.

"Yeah? Well... I think I can love you, too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I ended this so fast. I'm so sorry. I couldn't keep up with it, I couldn't find the motivation, but this is the first time anyone's been excited for something I wrote, so I didn't want to leave it hanging. 
> 
> I'm working on some original works right now, and another MLB fanfiction I can and will finish. I'll start posting fanart and theories on my tumblr and instagram (both alittlekiwi, though tumblrs a-little-kiwi, if you want to follow and wait), and I will start writing more. I want to boost this. This is something I really enjoy, and this is the first time I actually felt good trying. You don't have to stick with me, but if you're willing, it'd be great. Thanks for sticking with me even though this ending was disappointing, and I promise I wont disappoint next time.
> 
> A sneak peak into the next MLB fanfic I'm working on::
> 
> "Yaaaay!!!" Duusu squeals as she swoops into Marinette's cheek, nuzzling closer to her. "I'll never leave you, either, Mari! You're the sweetest little chick I could have ever dreamed of! I'll do my best for you, I promise!"
> 
> Marinette smiles weakly, staring down at the adorable, excited kwami. "I know you will, Duusu-- and I'll do my best for you, too. We'll save your last Chosen-- and get Tikki back. We'll do it together-- and I'll be worth something to you, I swear."
> 
> "Oh, Missus Mari, don't worry! You're already worth everything to me!"


End file.
